The main tension is between Maria and Piper. Did you enjoy pushing Piper around in the prison schoolyard, and how did you and Taylor approach the season?

It was really awesome because I didn’t get to work with Piper so much, Taylor and I only had one one-on-one scene during the blackout in season three when we think we’re getting transferred. This season, anytime we spoke it was an in-your-face situation, so we kept that up as much as possible. For the most part, we did stay in character to keep it tense and keep that energy up. We really didn’t discuss it much. You want to stay focused and give the actor your best performance so they can give it back to you, especially with the elements of filming outside or doing something that requires fire, for example.

The episode called for the entire cast to be in the scene, which helps to bring it all together. But what was it like to navigate such a large and emotional ensemble?

It was all done in one day. We prepared tremendously. They are a machine: hair, makeup, wardrobe, the ADs and a great cinematographer. What I was really worried about was holding everybody’s attention for the 15 hours or whatever. But honestly, it was dramatic enough that it could. These people play these characters, so you don’t have to do much. As long as they’re in the scene and reacting, you make sure that you get them on camera. My whole thing was: get the stunts right and structure it dramatically so that you feel that moment of triumph and then really feel the chaos. Because that’s how things like that happen.

You can read the full interview with Matthew Weiner, guest director of episode 12, here